Tag: doormen

(Damn. How much better would this story be if Renzo’s crew were all wearing IFL Pitbulls jerseys at the time?)

While official details on Renzo Gracie‘s Sunday night arrest are still scarce, both sides of the altercation are starting to talk about what happened outside of 1-OAK nightclub in New York City, which ended with a doorman getting his ass kicked. Here’s what Gracie himself told MMAFighting.com via text message on Tuesday afternoon, after the MMA pioneer was booked for misdemeanor assault with intent to cause injury, then released on $10,000 bail:

“Everything is a misunderstanding. We always had a great relationship with that amazing club and all their employees. Soon everything will be clear.”

Alright, fine. Maybe this is just one of those things that happens late at night when you mix alcohol and testosterone. Maybe Renzo and Igor Gracie showed up to the club and the bouncer was wearing a “LUTA LIVRE IS THE STRONGEST” t-shirt, and one thing led to another. A comment was taken the wrong way. The bouncer failed to recognize who these Gracies were, bro. Maybe.

However, the bouncer himself — 35-year-old Craig Molesphini — has a very different story, and it suggests that the attack was premeditated. Here’s what Molesphini told the New York Post:

As reported earlier today by Sherdog and the New York Post, Renzo and his cousin Igor Gracie were arrested in Manhattan last night following a brawl outside of the nightclub 1-OAK:

Sherdog.com was able to obtain a video following the alleged altercation from an anonymous witness who recorded the scene on a camera phone. According to the witness, Gracie arrived at the club in a group of approximately seven men and immediately went to the front of the line.

Gracie then became involved in a confrontation with what the witness described as the doorman. Things escalated from there, as Gracie’s group allegedly squared off with a group of 1-Oak bouncers. According to the witness, Gracie at one point had the doorman in full mount, while another one of his group hit a different bouncer with a construction cone.

The fracas spilled into the street, with more punches being thrown. Eventually the police arrived and arrested everyone in Gracie’s party, while an ambulance came for the bouncer who had been mounted by Gracie, according to the witness. It was unclear as to why Gracie and his group were originally upset.

The New York Post‘s report adds a couple more details, delivered with a very anti-Gracie slant: